The positions of Iranian officials all confirm that Tehran insists on considering Lebanon an arena, and that it does not view it as a state with a president, government, constitution, laws, and a sovereign decision that cannot be bypassed or overlooked by any other country, but rather sees it as a province subordinate to it, nothing more and nothing less, according to sovereign sources for "Al-Markazia".

This was again demonstrated by the recent statements of the commander of the Quds Force in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Ismail Qaani, who stated that "the martyrdom of the leader of the resistance and several commanders did not prevent the new generation of Hezbollah fighters from continuing to fight," confirming that this generation "will not leave Israel alone." 
The man has thus decided that the party will continue to fight Israel, ignoring all Lebanese decisions that consider the party an illegal organization and disregarding its efforts to close the chapter on armed conflict with Israel and to adopt diplomacy to reach solutions and settlements.

Qaani also stated that "the performance of these fighters during the past period led to the targeting of about 373 Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers by the resistance fighters in Hezbollah," yet he forgot that this performance allowed the Israelis to reoccupy dozens of villages and kilometers to the south, displacing and destroying them to the point of erasing them from the map.

He saw that "it is necessary to strengthen the belt of defense, independence, and dignity extending from Afghanistan to Yemen and from Iran to Gaza and Lebanon throughout the Islamic world," in a position that confirms Iran's insistence on the unity of arenas, with Lebanon being "an arena" among these arenas, and not a state or entity in itself, in Tehran's calculations. 
While Qaani pointed out that "Hezbollah fought one of its toughest wars and fought heroically," confirming that "Israel has not suffered similar losses throughout its history," sources say that Lebanon has also not suffered similar losses for decades.

Qaani concluded, "At a time when it was promoted that Hezbollah was finished and had lost its ability to resist, its fighters entered the field just two days after the outbreak of the war and the martyrdom of our great Imam, and continued to fight in a manner that astonished both friends and enemies alike," providing further evidence that this war was entered by the party at Iran's timing and decision, in support of it and serving its interests, and that it has nothing to do with Lebanon or its liberation or protection, neither closely nor remotely.

This blatant Iranian challenge to Lebanese legitimacy and the Lebanese people comes on the heels of a meeting in New York that included Prime Minister Nawaf Salam and Iranian President Masoud Bezhakian, in which the former insisted on opening a new page between the two countries, based on mutual respect for each other's sovereignty, and also comes after numerous official Lebanese demands to Iran to stop interfering in Lebanese affairs. However, all these calls have been in vain, and here is Qaani mobilizing the party for perhaps a third support..

So what will the Lebanese state do? Will it raise the level of confrontation with Iran by closing the Iranian embassy, for example? Or will it succumb to the existing Iranian reality?